I am writing in response to your article where it was reported that the local area app was only downloaded only 385 times (Standard, December 11). This is very disappointing news.

As a business owner within the district of Tendring and Clacton, I struggle to see any future positives within the town and if there are any, I find it having very little impact within the wider community.

I am sorry, but to read that an app which has cost £90k to set up has had such little interest, I find this scandalous and such a waste of money.

An app is only good if people know about it, I certainly didn’t or I can not recall it being promoted, so I haven’t downloaded it. Sorry.

Before the pandemic hit our shores, I attended the UK tourism show, this exhibition ran as a platform to promote local tourist hotspots where I found keen tourist offices and locals promoting their local area, but found no-one from East Anglia, Essex or Tendring.

This was very sad and frustrating to see, as once again I saw all the usual tourist places that people talk about and the usual ones you see in the TV documentaries, but as it appears that our county and local resorts are the poor relation for tourists/tourism, no-one really wanted to attend the show and talk about our deadbeat coastal towns.

Once again this was disappointing to see.

I do believe the local and regional council have a large part to play in promoting our local towns and county and believe money could be better spent by positively promoting our seaside resorts.

It appears staycations could be making a return, so this is the ideal opportunity to take the bull by the horns and raise the profile of Essex and Clacton.

The UK as a whole has a bad reputation for tourism as I believe there is not enough money spent on making resorts attractive enough to pull in the tourists and holiday makers.

As we are just seeing now, the Christmas lights in the town centre this year are dismal, there is no festive spirit in these, and with shops closing, Clacton looks very depressing.

I believe the council should be showing a more collective effort in trying to keep the town and local area alive. Love where you live is my motto.

Unfortunately it appears the people responsible for tourism don’t have the same passion to promote positively to the wider audience.

The council needs to support small businesses and yes, you have through these challenging times, thank you, but it’s more long term if the town is to survive, grow and prosper.

Please can we keep it simple and spread the word that Clacton and Essex have so much more to offer. Visit Essex Visit Clacton.

Kind regards for the festive season and positive thoughts for 2021. Keep safe and thank you.

Kirk Cross